LI soccer fans hoping Team USA makes a deep run in World Cup

Giancarlo Petruccelli is a dreamer. That’s why he believes the United States will win the World Cup for the first time.

Petruccelli, 51, who is from Massapequa and is a former St. John’s soccer player, isn’t alone in his belief. However, most fans with whom Newsday spoke at Stony Brook University’s World Cup watch party on Friday don’t think the United States — whose best finish was third during the inaugural 1930 tournament — will go all the way.

The fans were gathered to watch the Canada-Bosnia game in midafternoon, followed by the USA-Paraguay game. The United States won, 4-1.

The Americans have reached the round of 16 in three of the last four World Cups. The exception was 2018, when they failed to qualify altogether.

“I still think we’re trying to compete with the whole world,” said Tracie Morenberg, who just retired from coaching Commack High School girls soccer. “It’s anybody’s game . . . I think they should do well in the pool play. I’m just hoping they can get out of that.”

The 48-team field is divided into 12 groups of four. Each team plays three group-stage matches; the top two teams from each group plus the eight best third-place finishers advance to the 32-team knockout round.

In Group D, USA is joined by Turkey, Australia and Paraguay. The Americans, hosting the World Cup for the first time since 1994, are playing their group stage games on the West Coast in California and Washington. The USA and Turkey are seen as the two most likely teams to earn the pool’s top seeds.

“We got a decent team,” said Mike Sweeney, 64, of Medford. “I mean, we might get to the semis, but we’ll see.”

Sweeney, who predicted the U.S. will make it to the quarterfinals, noted that other countries have an advantage because they prioritize soccer over other sports. Tatiana Lasalle, 24, who was coached by Morenberg while growing up in Commack, agreed with that sentiment.

“Soccer’s like the fourth, fifth sport in America,” she said. “It always comes after, like, basketball, baseball, football. So less kids are playing it here than they are around the world, so naturally, you get more talent that way.”

However, if the USA can make a deep run, Sweeney — who joked, “We have options, which is why we call football soccer” — and Lasalle said it can help the sport gain more popularity in the states.

Like Petruccelli, Jose Alfaro predicted America will secure its first World Cup title. Alfaro, 39, a Huntington soccer coach with 22 years of experience, believes a win would help grow the sport’s popularity in the U.S.

“It 100% can raise this to the next level, inspiring boys and girls . . . Going further will further help us in the future,” he said.

The U.S. team fired coach Gregg Berhalter in 2024 and hired Mauricio Pochettino, an Argentinian who previously coached powerhouses Chelsea, Tottenham and Paris Saint-Germain.

Argentina enters the World Cup as the reigning champion, and Spain, France, England, Portugal and Brazil are considered favorites.

In the 21st century, the USA’s best World Cup finish was reaching the quarterfinals in 2002. This year, it will attempt to reach its first semifinal since 1930, and better yet, win the World Cup for the first time.

“Hoping they make it out of the group stage, but you know, haven’t done too well in the past,” Lasalle said. “Hopefully we can change that.”